Through the fairy door - Lucinda's Dress
by kocorina
Summary: The first of a set of childhood short stories based on the lives of two fairy tale creatures, a fairy - Amelie, and a pixie - Lucinda. In this story, Amelie makes a dress for Lucinda to wear to a party!


In my lounge there is a door, not much bigger than a mouse hole, through which a fairy named Amelie comes through to visit me and tell me stories from her world, a world only children can see, and adults with a little magic and a lot of belief.

Amelie, as I have mentioned, is a fairy. A fairy with long, golden hair, a dress made from rose petals and wings of silk that shimmer in both rain and sunshine.

She lives in a small cottage with her friend Lucinda, a pixie with fiery red hair, a cheeky smile and a personality to match.

One day, when summer was leaving and the leaves were turning orange, Amelie came to visit me with a tale I just had to tell you.

Amelie was preparing for her final tea party of summer, an event she held each year and was attended by many of her friends, from fairies, pixies and elves to imps, brownies and many more. Lucinda was trying her best to help but was distracted by the thought of the coming party and the fact that Amelie had made her a new dress especially for the occasion.

'Can I see the dress now?' Asked Lucinda, for the hundredth time that day alone.

'Not just yet', said Amelie, 'I need to finish the decorations, then you can see it, I promise! Just help with these lights please.'

After much struggling, and complaining on Lucinda's part, the lights were finally among the trees, eager for twilight so they could twinkle.

'Now can I see the dress?'

'Well, I need to make sure all the food is ready,' teased Amelie as Lucinda pulled a face, 'but I suppose it can wait until you've tried the dress on!'

With a smile that could brighten any dreary day, Lucinda sprinted upstairs. Amelie chuckled and slowly flew to her window, which she had left open for this exact purpose, and beat Lucinda to the room. Lucinda, for once not annoyed with this trick, looked around the room in eager anticipation.

'I kept it in my wardrobe so that it wouldn't get damaged' Said Amelie, bringing out the dress.

Lucinda gasped in awe. Amelie had brought out a dress of such beauty she couldn't have imagined. It was red and yellow, Lucinda's favorite colours, and seemed to glow every time it moved.

'I added a little fire magic to it so that would like like a flame when you wear it' said Amelie.

'They'll go perfectly with my new boots' thought Lucinda before saying thank you to Amelie and taking the dress to try on.

'You need to be careful' warned Amelie, 'the magic could easily come undone if you move it too much, it could all fall apart so you need to be careful!'

Lucinda walked into the room wearing the dress and even Amelie felt tears when she saw how beautiful she looked.

'It's a perfect fit' said Lucinda giving a little twirl and watched as the dress lit up around her.

'It's beautiful' said Amelie.

'It's perfect', twirling again, watching the flames getting higher and brighter.

'You did hear what I said Lucinda, didn't you?' asked Amelie. 'If you twirl like that too much the magic will get too powerful and come undone.'

'Yes yes' said Lucinda, 'Stop your worrying Amelie. Don't twirl, got it.'

Amelie shook her head in despair, 'I need to continue with the food, when you've finished looking at yourself, give us a hand?'

'Of course, give me five and I'll be with you!' Smiled Lucinda.

Lucinda couldn't stop staring at her reflection and watching the flame like motion her dress made. Once she was sure Amelie was downstairs and occupied once more, she gave the dress a twirl, then another, then just spun in circles, watching as the flames got higher and higher.

All of a sudden the flames got so bright Lucinda was forced to close her eyes. She stopped twirling and, when the flames seemed to have died down, she reopened her eyes and gasped in horror at what she saw.

The dress now looked like rows of autumn leaves, lined together on string. The colour had gone and so had the magic.

Now you may not know this, but pixies are not as good at magic as fairies are, and Lucinda was particularly bad. Never the less, she knew she had to try and restore the dress before Amelie found out.

With tears in her bright green eyes, she took a deep breath, rubbed her hands together until they tingled, closed her eyes and mumbled a spell. A rush of warmth came over her. She smile and opened her eyes.

Her dress was now green, the old autumn like leaves replaced with fresh green ones. She sighed and wiped the tears from her eyes. Tempted as she was to try another spell, she didn't want to risk causing any more damage to the dress. Reluctantly she took off the dress and went downstairs to tell Amelie.

Amelie was in the garden, the table now filled with more goodies than you could imagine and the fountain in the middle of the garden was now spouting a golden substance similar to honey instead of water.

'Tonight is going to be perfect' said Amelie as she she spied Lucinda. 'Are you okay?' She asked, shocked by her silence. 'Yes' Lucinda replied, 'just still in shock from the dress'. This was the truth, even if Amelie didn't get the correct meaning.

Amelie gave her a hug. 'Well I suppose we'd better get ready.' Amelie said, 'Everyone will be arriving soon!' and she made her way upstairs. Lucinda followed slowly. Unsure of what to do, she sat at the end of the bed and cried.

As the evening drew in and the guests began to arrive, Amelie went upstairs to check if Lucinda was okay.

'I'm alright,' said Lucinda, 'just going to make a stylishly late entrance.'

Amelie giggled, 'standard Lucinda' she thought to herself, and returned to the garden to make sure all her guests were enjoying themselves.

Once everyone had arrived and the party was in full swing, Amelie looked around and was surprised not to see Lucinda. 'Very odd, this is a bit more than stylishly late, she really must want to make an entrance!' Thought Amelie, noticing Ed in the corner, Lucinda's secret crush.

She went upstairs to check on her and, as she reached the landing, heard crying from Lucinda's room.

'Lucinda, whats wrong?' Amelie called, letting herself into Lucinda's room, her eyes instinctively drawn to the dress on the floor.

'O Lucinda, I did try to warn you. Why didn't you tell me?' Amelie asked.

'I was embarrassed.' Lucinda replied. 'I didn't want to upset you.'

'Put it on,' said Amelie 'and lets see what we can do.'

Once Lucinda was in the dress once more, Amelie muttered a few words under her breathe and Lucinda watched as the dress slowly returned to its original colour.

'It won't shimmer like it did,' said Amelie, 'That magic I can't redo.'

Lucinda gave Amelie a big hug, 'I don't care,' she said, 'now I have a dress to wear and can join the party! Thank you!'

Hand in hand, the pair walked down the stairs and into the garden. They were greeted with silence as everyone looked at Lucinda with Awe.

'I want to apologize for being so late.' Said Lucinda, 'but I thought I should give Amelie's work the recognition it deserves! Now, let the part continue!' At this everyone cheered, and, as Lucida said, the part continued.

The evening was a great success, apparently, the best party Amelie had every hosted. Everyone commented how beautiful Lucinda looked in the dress and how wonderful Amelie was at dress making. And, although Lucinda has claimed to have learnt her lesson to listen to caution, with Lucinda you can never be sure.

And that is the tale of Amelie's last tea party of this summer, one neither of them will forget!

I hope you enjoyed this tale, I'm sure I'll be writing more of Amelie's stories in the future! Till then, maybe if you keep an eye out, you might catch a glimpse of Amelie. Look down the end of your garden, amongst the tress or by a river, she's sure to be there! I'll let her know your looking!

And, as my mother always says, until next time, it's not good bye, it's so long and see you soon!


End file.
